BackChina manufacturing PMI drops to lowest level in 12 months
The preliminary PMI from HSBC Holdings and Markit Economics was at 49.2
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Beijing: A Chinese manufacturing gauge fell to a 12- month low in April, suggesting government efforts to cushion a slowdown are yet to revive the nation’s factories.
The preliminary Purchasing Managers’ Index from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics was at 49.2, missing the median estimate of 49.6 in a Bloomberg survey, which was also March’s final reading. Numbers below 50 indicate contraction.
The first reading of the economy’s health in April may deepen concern over a slowdown after first-quarter data showed the weakest economic expansion since 2009. Policy makers have stepped up efforts to halt the slide, cutting banks’ reserve requirements by 1 percentage point this week.
“Adjustment in the manufacturing and real estate sectors are major drags on economic growth," Zhu Haibin, chief China economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Hong Kong, wrote in a note before the PMI reading. “Growth stabilization now becomes the priority policy consideration."
Sub measures of new orders and prices deteriorated, with job shedding reported for the eighteenth straight month, the survey showed.
Premier Li Keqiang has flagged the labor market as key, pledging last month to step in to support the economy if the slowdown hurts jobs and wages. Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 7% in the three months through March from a year earlier. Bloomberg
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